Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Third period: Off the opening faceoff, Kreider splits the defense and gets in on Quick, who makes the save. Zuccarello draws a third penalty against the Kings. This time Matt Greene trips him going to the Kings’ crease. A third offensive zone penalty against the Rangers, out of four total, as Kreider knocks Doughty into Quick at 5:58. The Rangers get a sixth power play at 9:53 as Brown slashes Staal. Lundqvist pulled with more than four minutes left. He has just 12 saves.

Second period: Just saw replay of Zuccarello non-goal. To me, puck deflected off near post and across crease. No Quick stick on it. How the Rangers respond to Carter’s goal could be determining factor in the rest of this series. Hyperbole? We’ll see. Kings get their first power play 59 seconds in as McDonagh whacks Gaborik a couple of times then accidentally gets Kopitar with a high stick in the Rangers’ zone. Still, a careless penalty. Rangers kill off the penalty, then Staal takes another careless high sticking penalty, this time in the offensive zone as gets Martinez in front of the Kings’ crease. The Rangers get burned on the second bad penalty as Muzzin, from the blue line, with a shot that gets through Carter’s screen for a 2-0 lead a 4:17. Kopitar and Gaborik with the assists. The Kings rallied from two-goal deficits in the first two games. Now the Rangers get to show how good (or not) they are at that task. Rangers get a chance to close the gap at 8:13 as Mitchell elbows Zuccarello. That’s the second penalty Zuccarello has drawn against Mitchell. Quick with a save on Richards from then blue line then on Brassard’s rebound attempt at 9:41. Brassard slid to the glass and banged on it in frustration. At 10:20, Quick follows with another unbelievable save on Brassard at the left post. More frenetic action in front of Quick and Doughty almost certainly prevents a goal by hooking Nash trying to wraparound at the right post at 11:53. The Rangers take their second offensive zone penalty (out of three so far) as Hagelin, along the right boards, slashes down and breaks Muzzin’s stick. No doubt about that one at 13:51. At 14:54, Lundqvist reaches behind him and gloves Carter’s shot from the low slot to keep the deficit at 2-0. But that becomes 3-0 at 17:14 as Mike Richards leads an odd-man rush with Kyle Clifford, tries to slide the puck over, goes off Ryan McDonagh, back to Richards, who slips it short side inside the left post. Refs catch Muzzin on this slew foot against Dorsett, interference called at 17:14 as Rangers go on their fourth power play. Rangers trail 3-0 going into third period. Still don’t trust the posted statistics yet. Girardi pinched on the two-on-one and got caught.

First period: Glitchy start to the game. NHL feed is down so there are no on-line stats currently available nor are there any stats on the video board. Don’t need stats to enjoy the energy of the crowd though. Quick is at the right post at 3:51 as Hagelin attempts a wraparound. Stoppage at 6:27, just prior Rangers barely avoided another defensive zone disaster thanks to a Brad Richards’ turnover. He again heard footsteps and just turns and blindly tries to get rid of the puck. Nine minutes in, Dorsett and Muzzin, going to the right corner in the Kings’ zone, appear to slew-foot each other. Both went down in a heap, nothing called either way. Rare stoppage so far at 11:11. Shots are, well, anyone’s best guess right now. On the previous rush, Quick makes a good save on Hagelin at the doorstep. At 12:37, Zuccarello and the puck both wind up behind Quick and Zuccarello seemed to have a shot at a wide-open crease. But it didn’t go in. Need to see a replay on that one but so few stoppages so no chance yet. Replays appear to show that Quick somehow got his stick on Zuccarello’s shot on the bouncing puck. Or it went off the near post with Zuccarello on the left. Quick was credited with a save. The Rangers get the game’s first power play at 17:42 as Mitchell hits Zuccarello with a high stick as they battle low in the slot. The power play expires then the Kings score with 0.7 seconds left in the period as Williams, along the right boards, slides it over to Jeff Carter going high in the right faceoff circle. Carter’s shot may have deflected off Dan Girardi’s skate but it definitely ticked off Lundqvist’s glove. Official statistics not available yet. The 1-0 lead represents the Kings first lead of the series. So far, they’ve led for 0.7 seconds in three games. Mats Zuccarello was the Rangers best player.

About

ANDREW GROSS covers the New York Rangers for The Record and Herald News, having joined the North Jersey Media Group in November 2007. Gross also covered the Rangers and New York Jets, as well as St. John’s basketball and Army football, for Gannett Newspapers and The Journal News (N.Y.). He graduated from Syracuse University in 1989 with a degree in newspaper journalism.